Various methods have been employed to mount a footrest on a floor of a vehicle body. By way of example, the footrest can be mounted by use of a stud fixed on the floor, such as a threaded stud or a rod-shaped stud having a groove in the periphery thereof. Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 01-29520 (U. M. Publication No. 5-01686) discloses a structure for mounting an accelerator-pedal stopper by use of a threaded stud fixed on a floor. The accelerator-pedal stopper mounting structure can achieve a simplified attaching operation by virtue of the threaded stud on the floor. If this mounting structure is applied to a footrest and a vehicle body is deformed due to a vehicle collision or the like, however, the footrest might be moved toward a vehicle compartment, resulting in undesirable damage of a driver's foot placed on the footrest.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-168422 discloses a footrest assembly capable of absorbing impact from a collision or the like in order to prevent the aforementioned damage. FIG. 1 as attached herein shows the footrest assembly 1. In FIG. 1, the footrest assembly 1 includes a solid footrest 2 which is made of plastic material having a shock absorbing effect such as urethane to absorb impact from a collision or the like, and a pair of tubular clips 5, each of which is adapted to receive therein a stud fixed on a floor of an vehicle body, such as a threaded stud or a rod-shaped stud having a groove in the periphery thereof. The pair of clips 5 are immovably fixed in the footrest on the floor-facing side 3 of the footrest at respective positions corresponding to the studs. Thus, the footrest can be reliably positioned by use of the studs. The above footrest assembly disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-168422 can be reliably positioned to the floor by itself without any adverse effect from a carpet covering over the floor and can mold the footrest and the clip integrally. This is advantageous not only to absorbing impact from a collision or the like but also to facilitating the control, handling and attaching operation of the footrest assembly. However, when temporarily or permanently detached for replacement of the carpet or other parts, maintenance or servicing, it has been difficult to detach the above footrest assembly from the floor.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to facilitate a detaching operation of a footrest assembly having an integrally molded clip, capable of reliably positioning a footrest by use of a stud fixed on a vehicle floor and absorbing impact from a vehicle collision or the like.